Lung Mike

Koh Samui is a good compromise.

When a Thai person is married to a foreigner, the officialdom will consider that person from there on to be a walking ATM. My wife and I did a Thai-Chinese tea ceremony for the family but we did not officially get married. This makes it easier for the Thai person to own properties without being harassed by the local officials. There are plenty of visa options, so marrying is not necessary for that reason.

I have never used any film in all the cars that I have owned in Thailand. It is not necessary at all to reduce the heat and it seriously impedes the night vision. I once read a thorough test in a leading German automotive magazine about these films. The conclusion was that the inside temperature was maximum zero point five degrees lower with the film. This is hardly noticeable and the air-conditioning more than makes up for that small temperature difference.

This behavior is unfortunately all too common because the culprits generally get away with it. It is hardly surprising that there is such low respect for the police. 

No excuses for child abuse! This is simple backwardness. If a teacher would do that to my child, I would personally reconfigure his limbs.

Raja Ferry is and always has been a disgrace. They have no respect for their passengers and their boats are floating rust buckets.

Especially the rust buckets of Raja Ferry are a disaster waiting to happen.

From my personal experience, living and working here for almost 18 years, the corruption is definitely worse than a few years ago. The required under-the-table payments have more than doubled since the military took over. The corrupt officials must be scared to get caught, but instead of stopping their corrupt activities, they simply up the price. The police harassement of foreign businesses has also increased.

This bully attitude should do wonders for the RTP's public relations. 

What a joke! I have never ever seen the police do anything proactive to enforce the existing trafic laws. The occasional road block and making more laws are not going to solve anything.

The main issue is the total lack of proactive enforcement by the Thai police. Nobody cares about the rules because the police never ever does anything even remotely resembling actual policing. The sporadic helmet checks at the end of each month in front of the police boxes are not going to solve anything, apart from the police men's personal bank balances.

The waiting lines are increasing and the service is decreasing. Samui neesds a bridge!

Last month my family and I had the same problem flying to Japan. I had booked Samui-Bangkok with Bangkok Airways and Bangkok-Tokyo with JAL. My luggage could not be booked through because "I had not bought the tickets together", according to the less-than-helpful Bangkok Airways' stuck-up check-in staff. So we had to get out of the airport at Suvarnabhumi with all our luggage and then check in again with all the hassle and time-loss involved. I nearly missed my connecting flight because of this utter stupidity. I fly very often and this is the first time that Bangkok Airways has done this. "Thainess" at its best!

"Kidsclub" in Nathon, close to the Immigration.

Went to look at a DesJoyaux pool in Khanom yesterday. Looked nice, quite a build up of algae on the liner joins ! Is that just bad maintenance or a common issue with liners ?

Also, not sure who did the build but the tiles around the edge of the pool were overhanging by an inch, several had broken causing a serious injury risk

Algae buildup is caused by bad maintenance.

This has nothing to do with the liner.

DesJoyaux builds complete pools including the pool structure but they also sell liners and pump-systems for pools where they did not build the structure.

It looks like the pool that you are describing is not a fully built DesJoyaux pool, so it might not be up to their quality standards.

You should go to their shop (Koh Samui or Suratthani) and have a look at some pools that they have built.

Thanks... I did suspect the algae to be down to maintenance.

They have already been in touch with me, they monitor this forum

Will pay them a visit for more info and pricing. Prefer not to have that filtration system on the side of the pool but believe they do integrated set ups too ?

Yes, the pump system can be hidden.

How much will it cost to transport it to the mainland?

DesJoyaux has an office in Suratthani.

Went to look at a DesJoyaux pool in Khanom yesterday. Looked nice, quite a build up of algae on the liner joins ! Is that just bad maintenance or a common issue with liners ?

Also, not sure who did the build but the tiles around the edge of the pool were overhanging by an inch, several had broken causing a serious injury risk

Algae buildup is caused by bad maintenance.

This has nothing to do with the liner.

DesJoyaux builds complete pools including the pool structure but they also sell liners and pump-systems for pools where they did not build the structure.

It looks like the pool that you are describing is not a fully built DesJoyaux pool, so it might not be up to their quality standards.

You should go to their shop (Koh Samui or Suratthani) and have a look at some pools that they have built.

Indeed Gulfsailor, after having built over 100 pools on Koh Samui in all possible configurations, I now only use DesJoyaux. If you also let them build the structure, they are actually cheaper than conventionally built decent quality pools.

You can legally own a house as a foreigner but not the land. Hire a good Thai architect and let him/her handle the building permit application. Never try to be cheap by doing any government related dealings by yourself. As you noticed that will never work and you will only end up spending more money.

The best is DesJoyaux. Decent prices, good service and cheap running costs.

All this talk is pointless as long as the real issues cannot be mentioned or discussed in an open and constructive way because it is illegal and very dangerous. From my personal experience all sides are equally bad but the main difference is that under Thaksin everybody was allowed to make money but under his opponents' rule, only their affiliates are allowed to make money. In Thaksin's heydays I had already predicted that there was a huge risk that the power was going to go to his head and that it was going to be his downfall. Unfortunately the current regressive path chosen by the self-appointed enlightened ones is a recipe for disaster.

The star ratings of these 5 mentioned Thai airlines does surprise me somewhat. If I had to predict beforehand, based on my experience flying them all numerous times, I would have gone with;

Orient Thai: 1star

Nok Air: 2stars

AirAsia: 3 stars

Thai Air: 4stars

Bangkok Air: 4+stars

What might have skewed the results is the difference between long haul fligh and only short haul flight airlines. Short haul airlines are generally a lot more dangerous due to the inherent risk of take of and landing and use of smaller (prop) planes.

Anyway, still plenty work to do for all Thai airlines!

You might have forgotten about the numerous deadly accidents with Bangkok Airways. I do remember seeing a burnt-out wreck sitting at the Koh Samui airport many years ago and the wreck of the plane that hit the control tower.

A partial payback to their supporters?

Ridiculously overcharging passengers on Bangkok Airways seems to pay off...

I my former Thai construction company we needed at least five people to do the same amount of manual labor that one average worker in Europe would have done. Because of this low productivity, combined with low work ethics and a total lack of pride in their work, Thai labor is indeed expensive.

Stick a few of those Euro construction heroes out in the Thai sun, at 38 degrees and 95% humidity and see how much they can do before they're spent.

Then make them come back and do it again, 12 months a year, with no relief from the heat in the winter...

Edit: In fact, if you want an eye opener, look up the Euro safety regulations for the maximum time it's safe to work at 35 degrees and 95% humidity before risking heat exhaustion.

You are over-simplifying the local work conditions. Not all construction work is heavy and in the blazing sun. On top of that the locals do not suffer as much from the heat and humidity like us, who are coming from cold countries. I even had the same experience with my office staff, who were working in air-conditioned offices. The fact is that if you compare the labor cost to the amount of work delivered, the cost is generally not low at all. Labor conditions and wages are a seperate discussion topic.